Thoughts on CPDR

   During this whole module time I was able to practice on all fields and improve my skills significantly; I had to work with different people who have distinct personalities, thinking, way of working and seeing the life, less or more experience in this industry and even though sometimes was quite hard or stressful to complete a task working with them, I believe that this helped me realize and convinced me that I can't really trust people, not even when it's a school project.

   When we've first been introduced the experimental type of film, I surely enjoyed it from all aspects, as I believe that it gives you more freedom when it comes to ideas and techniques, but also it's a great way to start your filmmaker life and experiment what attracts you the most (sound, camera, edit, etc.).
   Although we had to work in pairs, the last film (Outsider), I had to entirely produced it myself and I'm glad it happened like this, since I loved the concept and subject matter, but I was also able to take my time and use any techniques and approaches that I wanted to.

   Documentary was clearly interesting to make and it required a lot of hard work and time management, but this didn't bother me at all. Along with this, I had the opportunity to visit another city, to work with new people and to experiment the life of a filmmaker more and the stress and entertainment that comes with it.
   For this task, I consider learning more about directing (outside the film set as well), producing (even though I wasn't the producer, but a project manager, I took my time to watch Dominic's work precisely), time limit, socialization and the importance of a good subject.

   I totally loved working for the drama exercise, since I could clearly see that teamwork values a lot in such cases and also that finding people who can understand your way of thinking, or better, that see the world like you, can create a better harmony in the team.
   Although it had to be only an exercise, I believe that I wanted to be more ambitious and serious about it and try to bring it to higher standards, which I hope I slightly did. Moreover, I have to admit that it was way more stressful and complicated than the documentary task, I had to put more effort and time, to think in a different way (more creatively, outside the box, quick and precise at times) and speaking about directing, this time I felt I actually did my job properly and effortlessly. 

   To conclude, this module helped me contriving ideas and concepts, helped me build more experience with regards of filmmaking, showed me various possibilities of how to start a film and how to have a divergent thinking and since I had to speak a lot (on and outside the film set, during the presentation days, etc.), I believe that it came really handy for me to improve my English and enrich my vocabulary as well.

Finished drama + Evaluation/Reflection

   After 2-3 tough weeks, in which we had to overcome a lot of unexpected situations and work as a team, our short drama is finally finished and can be watched on the following link: https://vimeo.com/328624279 .

   I believe that the final version of our drama was both technically and narratively good, yet it could’ve been done way better and more complex, if we had the necessary time. From the outside, the drama can appear a bit too lifeless, in terms of colouring, and somehow moves from one scene to another a bit too fast. 

   It would’ve been great to have some additional shots and/or a clear happy ending, as well a comedic type of script, in order to fade out the depressive state, as in I reckon that some viewers didn't want to be left in bitterness. However, I consider that the dog’s noises brought life to this piece of work and helped in creating the illusion of a real animal. 

   Throughout the whole time, I tried to take my job as a director and editor seriously, knowing that the whole team mostly depended on my pre-devised ideas and on the fluidity and coherence of the editing process. 

   Usually, it's better for me to see things and locations with my own eyes than to visualise them in my head only. Still, the fictional and real world were almost the same, that’s why I had to focus more on the actor’s performance all the time, since he also improvised in some moments.

   One of the issues we’ve encountered so far, and that troubled my mind a bit, was caused by the continuous leisure of Lee during the post-production, who seemed too bothered or bored to do something on his own, even after I help him export one of the audio pieces he created for the drama. I really don’t like working with this type of people, so it can be a bit tough for me to stay calm and guide them even though. 

   From all this experience, I've learnt more about the drama genre; about how the characters should be portrayed, either descriptively or visually; I could practice my directing skills more, as in how to technically explain my vision, but also non-verbally, through the drama’s overall form; I’ve come across a really passionate and devoted person, who’ve become an inspiration for me during the whole process, after seeing his thinking, working style and hearing about his life experience.

   In the future, I will surely try to use again the two totally different perspectives (ideally of a human and of an animal) and work more on the idea of interaction, reaction, emotion and differentiation, since I believe it’s a really creative yet out of the ordinary concept, that can be clearly dramatic, dark, depressive, funny, but also cinematic (especially with sounds designed to appear diegetic and are in fact non-diegetic, an impactful soundtrack/suitable ambiance noise and colours that mimic the reality).

   Considering my role in the team, I can say that I've tried to see from their perspectives as well, not wanting to harm them with a sudden decision or a drastic change. However, for the last idea, we had to shoot the whole film with only three people and I can say that we mostly edited in the same formula, as Lee helped us with sound only when we would ask him to, having no visible intention to do something on his own.

   All the time I was nice, calm and I explained to them the confusing parts, I helped and listened to them every time needed and concurrently, this experience strengthened the fact that some people aren’t reliable or keen to improve at all, but this should never hold you back from doing your job. 

Feedback from a tutor

   Despite of the fact that we just finished filming a day before, Martine understood our situation, as we explained it to her in details, and assured us that everything is going to be fine. since we got here, with a new set of clips and sounds, after all that happened.

   Regarding the dog synopsis, she agreed with us and liked what we've thought and showed her so far, but suggested us to try and focus more on emotions and on the character's reactions to his dog, in terms of narrative (script). Moreover, she implied to have more of a happy ending, as in someone picking up the dog after his owner left him there alone, which really made us think whether to do it or not throughout the post-production time.

   However, in the end we said that it's better to have the audience making its own resolution and find its own explanations, since I consider that a movie shouldn't be built up from ordinary terms, circular structures, answers and definitions, but to always have disrupted parts and words with double meaning. Then the storytelling and the whole film can be seen as a pleasure, but also a great mind game, which helps you develop your own reasoning and perspective upon life and death, reality and fantasy, yourself and the others.

Making of drama - 'Apology'

   Starting this new week, we had to film a whole new idea with a whole new concept. A brief about the new subject matter could be seen below, but we still changed some things throughout the process.

   The parts that have been changed completely are: the dog's perspective became exclusively the male protagonist's POV, who is shortly narrating bits of his life and integrating his current thoughts about himself and/or his loyal dog; we've only used the drawings as props and as an strong element of mise-en-scene, since they symbolize famous people, level which the character wants to achieve at some point in his petty life; we added an indoor scene as well.

   With regards of directing, I wanted to create a state of being lost, unsuccessful and lonely, because of his bad fortune in life so far, but feeling a string of calmness and completion when he is looking at his dog, Sparky. However, since he doesn't have faith and confidence in himself that things can change when the right time comes, he sometimes forgets to behave correspondingly with his dog and becomes aggressive and abusive. This happens also because he is supposedly to have a bipolar disorder. 

   Jake's expressions and incredible acting helped us a lot, especially since we didn't have a real dog and we had to simulate one using the camera. I was sure that this role is going to suit him better than the previous one (for the original idea), since he needed to pay attention on his actions only in relation with his "pet" (in the pre-production).

   On the second day of filming (which is illustrated above), I only directed and kept an eye on the equipment's bags. We only needed to recreate the scene inside of the Millennium Gallery, because we couldn't use some parts of the original footage (they were either overexposed or too shaky). 

   Instead, in the first day of shooting, I also was the sound mixer, capturing street noises and indoors ambiance sounds, which could help us creating the reality and liveliness we initially wanted to wrap the drama.

   The post-production sessions took place on the same week, with me as the editor for both image and sound. I was helped a lot by Ibrahim and Jake as well, but I was the one who put everything together; adjusted the audio levels to be even, to fit the mood (when he is angry, the sounds would get a bit louder; a silent hollow wind in the background as the heartbreaking part threatens to appear, etc.) or for the dog noises and the character's narration to be fairly heard and understood; color corrected the whole footage; edited and included the title and the post-credits.

   In addition, after Jake and Lee recorded the voice-overs, but they turned out to be heard only on the left channel, I got the most favorable pieces of audio through a short ProTools editing process and make them being heard on both sides, then imported them on the mother project.

   Originally, we chose special roles for everyone in the team, list that can be seen below, but after we've opted for a whole new idea and technique, each of our contribution automatically changed.

   Even though we were four in the beginning, after Lee confessed his dissatisfaction and concern about the whole task (mainly about the first idea), although he knew that me and Ibrahim were going to meet up and have everything planned meticulously this time, from my point of view, he still sounded like he was bothered by too much hard work that have been until then and that was going to come. Therefore, we had to re-shoot the drama from 0 with three people only. Still, we weren't so disturbed by this situation (just about the fact that he tried to find excuses when he knew we have to come across a new idea, but again it's my own opinion), because we worked great and we had a lot of fun during the filming as well.

   Lee decided to come and help us with the editing, but most of the time, Ibrahim had to direct him on what to do, as he didn't seem to pay attention too much or to be too engaged in this project anymore. However, he still took part in the sound section by finding some of the dog noises and some other types of audio we used in the drama.

   Having said all the above things, I do believe that we did all we could do in a short and rushed period of time, that we've been really organised with time, we've mostly worked as a team and we've overcome the tense moments during this massive process of making our first drama. 

Making of drama - 'The two faces of destiny'

   To begin with, because we've encountered a few issues, both technically and regarding some of my teammates, I had to change the original script over 3 or 4 times, in order to simplify the actions or to give them a better description. Therefore, I revised it until the moment we had to change the whole idea, which I am going to talk about on the next post.

I. 

   This is the first attempt in changing some insignificant scenes, but preserving most parts of the original script. (I got rid of the very first scene of them trying to decide whose drawing is the best one and I eliminated the scene in which they were impersonating movie characters, but I integrated a small part from it into the next shot)

II.

   This was the second or the third time, which happened after me and Ibrahim met up and tried to plan everything way better and have some of the technical things explained (as framing, lighting, mise-en-scene), considering the prior day, which was useless in terms of footage and audio, but a good practice and motivation for us two to work harder on this drama. Therefore, we discussed that is better to have 2 scenes in 1 and trying somehow to combine them, either in terms of narrative or editing.

III.

   The last time I had to change the script was after Lee, the one who should play Malloy in the drama, confessed us that he is not feeling too comfortable being filmed and that acting is not really for him, but that he thought to try and help us with his input, since we didn't have too much luck with the casting. However, he only mentioned this after me and Ibrahim have already done the paper work and to me, this only sounded like he has given up, seeing that we needed to work way harder then he probably reckoned in the beginning.

   In this case, I had to make Malloy an off-screen character, who would only have voice-overs and just a few parts of his body, such as arms or feet, to be shown in the frame in order to give the impression of a human-being, not of a ghost or an imaginary friend. I wanted the friendship between him and Asher to have a sense of reality. Moreover, I had to make drastic changes regarding the whole script, especially the descriptive parts, trying to make the script simpler and less complex, speaking of the variety of shots and the usage of lighting. 

   Simultaneously, I produced a shot list, which was changed a few times as well, based on the script format, and as a final addition, a script support, which would've allowed us to know how to frame and shot each scene properly.

   I believe that half way the shot list was changed to be suitable for the newest script form, but we've got the notification from Lee and basically, I had to stop and try to find a way of changing the entire script (still based on the current idea) or to start anew and have a fresh idea (which I did).

   Besides this, I tried to find more meaning in the story and I tried to transmit the answers visually, through mise-en-scene elements and by creating a deeper connection and interpretation of the characters. Therefore, I wrote an extra scheme referring to what should we consider and focus on more.

   Regarding mine and Ibrahim's meeting when we had to plan everything properly, he drew a storyboard based on how we wanted the shots to look like, while we were discussing the narrative that took form of the final script seen above.

   The first day of shooting went pretty well and the footage could've been used promptly, along with bits of the recorded audio. We chose to film both street scenes that day, without getting confused further on and encountering complications with the time. 

   The second day had been allocated to the indoor scenes, which we tried to firstly have in a Cafe, but because there were some people constructing, the sound was guaranteed to be unusable. Therefore, on the same day, we moved to the building where Lee is staying, as there is a room designed as a rest area, with armchairs, pool tables, TV and a couch, and there, me and Ibrahim tried our best to set up the lights, the cameras and the microphones. However, after viewing the footage, I noticed that the shadows were all over the place (lounge footage) and the close-ups (cafe footage) had good angles, but either the objects were out of focus or the subjects' performance wasn't that good. 

   Because of this inconvenient, we decided to re-shoot the interior scenes again, now that we were better prepared and we knew what we need to do precisely. Yet, after Ibrahim suggested this in the group chat and I recommended for Jake and Lee to switch roles, as I found their real personalities closer to the characters' ones and with this, the things would've been easier for them too, we've got Lee telling us what I've briefly mentioned above. 

   Speaking of directing, I presume that I've done my job properly, explaining to Jake and Lee how I want them to interact with each other, but also with the camera. There were times when I would have a small headache, since I believe that we all were slightly tired and no one could concentrate properly, especially in terms of acting and arranging props/setting.

   Nevertheless, me and Ibrahim understood each other greatly with reference to what types of shots to have, what camera angles and positions to use, about lighting set up and settings. Moreover, sometimes he would also direct the two actors regarding their expressions or performance.

   To conclude, even though the things got how they've got, I do believe that we worked hard in trying to complete this task in a proper way, although we maybe put too much effort and ambition into this drama from the very beginning. It was our very first drama and we still tried to reach a high level, being at the same time enthusiastic and having fun producing it. 

   Maybe it just wasn't meant to be, but I'm not sad, since I know we've worked ourselves a lot and some of us have been really passionate and committed.

SCREENSHOTS OF THE FOOTAGE

Read through session

   For today's workshop we had to present two main ideas prior choosing the most appropriate one for our drama that took the form of a powerpoint, which can be seen below:

   In the end, we opted for the first idea, since we thought that is more suitable and achievable concurrently, and wrote a script of 5 pages (without the title and end page) called 'The two faces of destiny'. 

   As it was mentioned above, in the powerpoint screenshots, we decided on a quite fast pace editing, as we need to incorporate almost all the actions the two characters are going to take. 

   A good reference to this film is the short drama 'Standby' by Charlotte Regan, in which two characters are seen over time changing their emotions, attitudes, expressions based on the time of the year or on the current situation. Although we don't really know too many details about their background (we can only presume that they maybe also have been friends before becoming policemen or they had known each other previously somehow), we can clearly see that their common domain of activity strongly connects them both. 
  *This need to be with the person who has changed your life in a way or another and not to be apart from them, since you feel like a different person when you spend time with him/her, can also be depicted from the last scene, when we see that she has been replaced by a new co-worker, after she got promoted. He is visible sad because he won't be able to do his job next to his worker and friend anymore. Moreover, I could say he was a bit disturbed as well, because the new man got his order wrong, as she never did such a mistake, during the screening at least. We can't be sure if she didn't mess up his order in the beginning too.


   Seeing our drama from a technical side, I can add that we are going to have a lot of close-ups and mid shots in order to capture the two actors' performance properly, but also to put emphasis on some details that help the story develop/explain itself throughout the time limit. Long shots and even extreme long shots will be used too, to help the audience have a sense of space and time. Tracking shots are going to be used too, since I believe they can create a natural progression of the story, without the need to have that many cuts and jumps in the film.
   On the aesthetic side, I think that it's best to opt for a dreamlike and melancholic atmosphere, natural tones (the drawings' colours can be more vivid when seen on screen), with no particular approach to a dark/grim drama, as the film won't be based on Malloy's gloomy background story or the reasons why he is 'cursed' or what is going inside his head. 

   The short is going to accentuate the fact that a true friendship can change even the most ill and lonely person, that's why I want this drama to have a certain nuance (not ordinary, not too lively yet not too dim) to show the difference between their world and the others' world.



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Standby, Charlotte Regan, 9 March 2017, <https://vimeo.com/207630463>